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Posts Tagged ‘Condoleezza Rice’

Yesterday I popped down to Cino to Go in Mt Lawley to get a feel for what Stephen Smith might have been thinking when he took the US Secretary of State there on Friday, and to just be where she had been.

This is by no means a plug for Cino because there are heaps of great coffee spots in Mt Lawley. Though I found they’re sprinkling real chocolate on the top of the cappuccino so maybe that’s why our Foreign Affairs Minister finds it appealing.

But if he really wanted to make an impression he should have taken Dr Rice – chaperoned by his parents of course – to Planet Books. She has said she sends friends to do her clothes shopping but bookshop browsing is not something you can delegate. Even the endlessness of Amazon is no match for the smell, see, feel, hear assault you get by craning your neck through all the shelves and flicking through the ones that catch your eye.

Planet, along with the smaller Oxford Books in Leederville, are bastions for the slow browsers. I have easily spent an hour just looking – and not even buying in the end but still feeling as though it was an afternoon well spent.

I can see Condi, brow furrowed before the bank of political and current affairs books, pondering the anti-Bush and anti-US themes, and suddenly having a lightbulb moment – PING – Time for the US to get out of Iraq, time to use this international influence for good, to not just bide time by Bush’s side, to recognise America is no longer the prestigious hemisphere it once was, that its “brand” is tarnished.

Maybe Smith could point her towards a John Pilger rant or the Latham Diaries (any of those still around?) for a bit of perspective.

Or the talented pianist could just buy a biography on Brahms. Either way Rice could see there’s a lot going on outside Planet Bush.

“And here’s one of little Stevie on the first day of school – yes he was potty trained, he was just nervous.” A proud mum tells her adult son’s new friend everything she needs to know for a fruitful relationship.

Here’s what it is: The most powerful woman in the world comes to Perth, home of Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister and he takes Condoleezza Rice to Cino To Go in Mt Lawley with his parents.

The Australian today has a pic of little Stevie with the very important Dr Rice and his mum and dad, in an ordinary Perth coffee shop.

For shame.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Cino To Go, hell I even like Smith. He’s been my federal member for some years and like his mum I’ve always believed in him and wanted him to do well. But this is an embarrassment and I’m not so sure he’s the man we need representing our sophisticated, modern face to the world.

Of all the hopes and aspirations political commentators and international affairs observers had for Rice’s visit – an insight into US foreign policy, a hint on future moves in Afghanistan and the Middle East – and Smith takes the US Secretary of State to his daughter’s school and his local cafe.

A few days ago commenter Skink said he too was represented by Smith and maybe the good minister could take Condi to Charcoal Chicken for a feed. I thought Skink was taking the piss but he must have had a peek in Smith’s diary. Maybe the chook shop was shut. Maybe Condi was over chicken after ASEAN. Maybe he’s trying to help Labor’s Karen Brown win the state seat of Mt Lawley. Maybe this is all a bad dream.

Condoleezza Rice is coming to Perth on Thursday and Friday. The first and last time a US secretary of state visited Perth was 1985.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says Condi’s visit will focus on energy security and minerals wealth. His statement, published pretty much the same on Fairfax, West, and Murdoch websites, is filled with vacuous platitudes about “alliance relationship” and “significant economic and social contribution” and “responsive to climate change difficulties” and other bureacracy-speak blah-blah. (He must have swallowed the same public service jargon manual as Rudd for all emotion and excitement to be stripped out of every event.)

Just as the Rudd Government is extricating itself from Howard’s tagalong with Bush’s wars, and Rice is coming to the end of her tenure, she is taking time to use all her travel chits:

“She describes it as a home town visit, she’s never been to Perth before and she wants to see the delights of Perth and we will do our best to accommodate that,” Mr Smith said.
“So there’ll be serious business to attend to but she also wants to see some of the beauty of Perth and that’s as it should be.”

Her complicity with Bush’s foreign affairs catastrophes aside, Dr Rice’s trip to Perth is a coup for the city and for Smith. Get your phone cameras ready for Condiwatch.

See Stephen Smith’s transcript of his meeting with Dr Rice in January here.